Rigobert Song takes over Cameroon

At the end of the month, the decisive matches of the World Cup qualifiers are coming up – and especially in the African countries, the tension is high and new impulses are being sought. After Ghana and Nigeria, Cameroon is now also changing its coach before the start of the play-offs. The new man on the sidelines of the indomitable lions is an old acquaintance from European football: Rigobert Song, Cameroon’s record international and former player for 1 FC Cologne, FC Liverpool and Galatasaray Istanbul, among others.

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Record international for the Indomitable Lions

Rigobert Song has played 137 times for the Cameroon national team. He has yet to make a name for himself as a coach in club football. However, Song is no stranger to the national team: from 2016 to 2018, the former defender was the coach of Cameroon’s so-called A-Team, a selection of Cameroonian professionals who play in the domestic football league. In 2018, he was the temporary interim coach of the national team. In 2016, Song suffered a stroke and was temporarily in a coma. However, Song has since made a full recovery. Most recently, Song coached his country’s U23 national team.

Toni Conceicao is dismissed by President Biya

Now Song has been directly appointed national coach by Cameroonian President Paul Biya. Previously, Biya fired his predecessor Toni Conceicao.
Despite a third-place, the Africa Cup was a big disappointment for the country – as hosts, they had hoped for more. Conceicao failed to lead the team to the final with all its superstars and a euphoric crowd behind them. Many experts criticised his personnel decisions heavily. For example, the most experienced national player, FC Bayern striker Eric Maxime Choupo-Moting, was only on the bench for the entire tournament.

A tough challenge for Cameroon: Algeria

A tough task now awaits Rigobert Song in the World Cup qualifiers. The indomitable lions will meet the team from Algeria. The first leg will take place in Yaounde on Friday, 25 March. Only four days later, the return match will be decisive. Will Cameroon make it to the World Cup again? Hard to imagine a World Cup without them.

Max Stargard
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By Max Stargard

Even as a child, I started typing the results of the Bundesliga with my friends at school. The stakes were modest back then: The lunch, a few marbles or maybe a milk slice. Then, at the age of 9, I played the penalty bet once - and immediately got 10 right. The previous week I had won 500 DM and in my childish imagination I was already imagining how many football pictures I could buy at the kiosk on the corner. Unfortunately, it was one of those match days when everything turned out as expected and I only won DM 8.10. Nevertheless, I followed the game with great interest. Nevertheless, the passion to correctly predict the outcome of sporting events haunted me for the rest of my life. I would have loved to own the sports almanac that Marty McFly bought in Back to the Future II. Much later, when I was already working as a journalist for newspapers and as a writer for television, I came across an international betting forum with over 100,000 members - and found out that a lot of people there were giving their tips on German football, but nobody seemed to have a real clue, so I wrote a few English-language preliminary reports with a few tips - and was right about everything. After that, an avalanche started. I got offers from bookmakers, sports papers and even betting syndicates to work for them - and I accepted a few of them too, experiencing the ups & downs of sports betting and travelling halfway around the world in the years that followed. There I met Chinese multimillionaires betting five to six figures, amateur players in Serbia or Turkey supporting their families with small stakes, South Africans gambling away half their fortune, Brazilians who could only leave their favelha and become rich by making the right tips. At one point my life was similar to Matthew McCaughaney's in the film Two For The Money - and far too much stress. I subsequently moved to another continent and ran an English-language football epaper about the Bundesliga from there. After the birth of my son, I devoted myself for many years only to artistic projects in the field of photography and literature. However, I am happy to share my knowledge and passion with the readers of bettingtipsafrica.